Kicker: Small town scholarships

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MARY REICHARD, HOST: The town of Swanville, Minnesota, population 326, had more than caps and gowns to celebrate at graduation this year, try over a million reasons to cheer!

It all started with a simple idea from two local businessmen nearly 40 years ago: give every graduate a scholarship. Since then, the whole town’s pitched in with tailgates, chili cook-offs, even cheese curd sales to raise money.

In 1988, year one, students got $166 each. This year? Audio courtesy KARE-TV:

AUDIO: “Grand total of $5,000…$5,500…$6,000…$7,000”

21 scholarships averaging over $5000 each. The town also hit a milestone: more than a million dollars in scholarships since the program began.

Graduate Zach Gapinski summed it up:

GAPINSKI: To me, it's just this community saying, go be great. Go do something cool and make a difference in the world.

They don’t know the dollar amount until they cross the stage, but every student knows that in Swanville, small town means big heart.

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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